An Introduction to Basics of Interfaces in Oracle Apps

·Interfaces are used in Oracle Applications to integrate external systems
and Data Conversion.

·The interfaces are mainly used to either transfer data from Oracle
Applications to a flat file or data from legacy system to Oracle Applications.

·Used extensively at the time of Data Conversion from legacy/ old systems
to a fresh implementation of Oracle Applications.

·Used also at regular intervals when data transfer is from other live
systems if the systems are not defined in Oracle Applications implementation.

·Oracle provides flexible and flexible tools in the form of Interface
programs to import the master and transactional data like Customers, Invoices,
and Sales Orders etc from external systems into Oracle Applications.

Types of
Interfaces

There are two major types of Interfaces:

·Inbound Interface :These interfaces are used to transfer data from external systems to
Oracle Applications.

·Outbound Interface : These interfaces are used to transfer data from Oracle
Applications to external systems.

Two other distinctions of Interfaces:

·Open Interface: If the interface logic is provided
by Oracle Applications, it is called an Open Interface.

·Custom Interface:If the interface
logic needs to be developed by the implementation team, it is called a Custom
Interface.

Interface Components

Open Interface
Logic

·First the data from the source application is loaded into a database
table (called Interface table).

·Then the provided validation program logic validates the records whether
they are correct or not .

·If the validation fails, the errors are transferred into another table
(called Error Table).

·If the validation succeeds, the correct records are transferred through
a process into the destination application table.

Components of an
Interface

a] Source Application:You obtain data from a source application to
pass on to a destination application for further processing and/or storage.b] Source Data Issues:Type of file, Size, Frequency of upload, Record
Length (Variable or fixed), Delimiter, Datatype for each field, Any unwanted
data, Naming convention and uniqueness of file, Location of the file, Access on
the file.c] Destination Application:You send data to a destination application so
that the application can perform further processing and/or storage.d] Interface Table:For inbound interfaces, the interface table is
the intermediary table where the data from your source application temporarily
resides until it is validated and processed into the destination application.e] Identifier columns:Uniquely identify rows in the interface table
provide foreign key reference to both the source and destination applications.f] Control Columns:

·Control columns track the status of each row in the interface table, as
it is inserted, validated, rejected, processed, and ultimately deleted.

h] Derived Columns:Derived columns are created by the destination
application from information in the required columns.i] Optional Columns:Optional columns are not necessarily required by
the destination application, but can be used by the destination application for
additional value-added functionality beyond the basics.j] Error Table:

·For inbound interfaces, the errors table stores all errors found by the
validation and processing functions.

·In some cases, the errors table is a child of the interface table. This
allows each row in the interface table to have many errors, so that you can
easily manage multiple errors at once.

·In other cases, the errors are stored in a column within the interface
table, which requires you to fix each error independently.

Developing an
Interface

1] Identification:Find out if there exists an Open Interface to
carry out the functionality.2] Creation of Pre-Interface table (
staging Table):A table in the format of the data file which can
be pruned to load as clean a data into the Interface table.3] Load data into Pre-Interface table:SQL*LOADER can be used to load the flat file
into the pre-interface table.4] Validate data in the Pre-Interface
table:Basic validation of the data loaded into the
Pre-Interface table can be carried out like:

·For checking NULL values in required columns

·Checking for Foreign Key and Quick Code values.

·Duplication Validation

·Business Rule validation

5] Mapping the values:Generated fields in Oracle Applications can be
mapped in this step to either default values or sequences.6] Load data into Interface table:

·Once the data is as clean as you can get it, the data can be inserted
into the Interface table.

·At such a time, certain columns, which are necessary in Applications but
not found in legacy system, need to be populated accordingly like WHO columns.

7]
Run the interface program8] Check for Errors9] Report on the Interface

ABOUT INTERFACES:

In
Oracle Apps Interfaces are generally tables, which act as a medium to transfer
the data from one module to another module or to transfer the data from legacy
system into Oracle Applications. There are 352 tables provided by the Oracle
Package. Each module has its own Interface Tables.A typical path to transfer the data from
Legacy System to Oracle Apps:

What is
Interfacing?

It is the process of converting the records from
one format to another format. The main components of this interfacing are• Transfer Program• Interface Table and• Import Program

A] Transfer Program:If the source modules data are implemented in
Oracle Applications then the Transfer Programs are integrated with the Package.
If the source modules are implemented in external system (i.e. other than
Oracle Applications) then we have to develop our own Transfer Programs.
Generally these Transfer Programs are developed using PL/SQL, JAVA or SQL
Loader.What they do?

·It maps the columns of source table with the columns of Interface
Tables.

Mandatory Columns:These are the main columns which are required in
the destination tables (i.e. Oracle Application Module Tables). With the help
of mandatory columns only the Import Program will converts the records from
source to destination.

Conditionally Required Columns:The values for these columns are based on the
values of Mandatory columns. For Example:If you are converting foreign currency transactions
to INR then it as compulsory to provide conditionally required columns like
Currency conversion rate, Conversion Time and Conversion Date.

Optional Columns:These are used when a client wanted to transfer
some additional information from source to destination. These are based on
client’s requirement.

Internal Processing Columns:Status and Error Message columns are called
Internal Processing Columns. These are specific only to Interface Table. These
columns are going to be used by the Import Program to update the status and
error message, if the record fails its validation while importing from
Interface Table to the Destination Table.

C] Import Program:For all Interface Tables, Oracle Application
Package is going to provide Import Programs. These are generally registered
with destination modules. These Import Programs are designed using PL/SQL,
JAVA, C, C++, etc.What they do?

·It maps the columns of the Interface Table with one or more columns in
the destination table.

·It performs row level and column level validation.

·It imports the data from Interface Table to the Destination tables, if
the records validated successfully.

·It deletes all the successfully validated records from Interface Table.

·If the record fails its validation then the Import Program will update
the status and error message columns of Interface Table.

Interface Vs.
Application Program Interface (API):

Interfaces
are used to transfer the data from legacy system to Oracle Application system
where as API is used to convert the data from one form to another form with in
the Oracle Application Module.

Data Migration vs. Data conversion

When we need to enter data into oracle Apps, following are the few
techniques:

• The Data can be entered using the application Screens (for small
amount of data, like creating PO, entering sales orders using Oracle Apps
screens).• The data can be entered using Oracle’s Open System Interface (for
regular operations e.g. for moving data from one module to another).• The data can be stored in the database table directly (Not
recommended by oracle and can be very risky, because on any event data is going
to be stored in many tables and data should be validated before inserting into
tables that may cause data integrity and inconsistency problem, sometimes it
may corrupt the data completely.).• Using third party tools like data loader (It is also can be used
when data is relatively small (25-200 records) because it captures the
keystrokes and works like manually entering the data into Oracle form but much
faster as process is automated).

What is the need of Migration/Conversion?

Migration/Conversion are required when we are upgrading to one version
to another (e.g. Oracle Apps 11.5.7 to Oracle 11.5.10) or moving data from some
legacy system to Oracle Apps. There will be bulk of data (sometimes
millions or even more than that) that needs to be moved from one system to
another and before moving the data it should be validated and only
valid records should be entered into Oracle Apps.

If both the systems (Target and source) are not having same structure
for data (Tables are not same/Table Structure is not same/The data is being
stored in database is not same), it needs to be translated (e.g. upgrading from
Oracle 11i to R12 where table structures are not same) then we say it as
conversion (any kind of translation of data on Source data to make it suitable
for Target system) otherwise migration.

What is Migration?

Migration of data means moving the data from one system to another using
Interface Programs/APIs where both the systems have same structure of data.

Process of Migrating of data:• Identify the data to be imported to new system (Business
requirement).• Extract the data into flat file/Staging table• Load the data into Interface Table(using SQL* Loader/DB
Link/Others) after validation(If loading the data using Interface)

What is Conversion?

Conversion of data means translating the data to suite target system
(data should be formatted according to target system ) and then move the
translated data using Interface Programs/APIs.• Identify the data to be imported to new system (Business
requirement).• Extract into flat file/Staging table• Translate/Convert/Format the data• Load the data into Interface Table(using SQL* Loader/DB
Link/Others) after validation(If loading the data using Interface) and then
launch standard Interface concurrent program to load the data to Oracle Apps
Base Tables• If using API, fetch the data, validate it and then call API to
import the data

How conversion/Migration and interface differ?

There are good numbers of parameter on which they can be categorized.
Take few of them:Frequency• Conversions/Migration are a one time event• interfaces are ongoingOccurrence in the project timeline• conversions/Migration executed before production• interfaces executed during productionManner of execution• Conversions/Migration are batch• Interfaces may be batch or real timeComplexity• Conversion/Migration does have very complex, it’s totally depends
upon the data mapping activity.• Coordinating with other systems make interfaces more complexMaintenance• Maintenance of interface is bit cost intensive task.

During my work on a projects conversion, I came accros this very
nice document. This document is very informative and so sharing with you all.
Happy reading!

Main Article:In this article I will be explaining the general
steps involved in any Conversion/Data Migration of Oracle Projects module.At the end of this article, you would have learned:

·Stages in Oracle Projects Conversion.

·How to setup the Oracle Projects module for the conversion/Data
Migration.

·Options for the Load (flat file, csv, or direct Loads).

·Oracle Projects AMG APIs needed to perform the Conversion.

·Testing the Conversion Process.

·Verifying the Conversion Process.

Scenario:Company ‘XYZ’ is using a Project Management and
Accounting Software for years long. The Management has decided to move from
their existing system to Oracle Projects module because of its vast
functionality and integration with other financial modules.

How to deal with it?Now the question arises:What data to migrate from the legacy system to
Oracle Projects?.Well, it depends upon the type of projects.If the Projects are used for Internal
Administration and tracking of costs, you may want to migrate the existing
projects, tasks(the work break down structure), Cost Budgets, Cost (Timecards,
Employee Expenses, Miscellaneous Expenses) etc.If the Projects are used for billing the Clients for
the work done (Typical Contract Projects), then you may want to Revenue,
Agreements (Contracts), Revenue budgets and Invoices in addition to the above
data.Once the decision is made to which data to migrate,
then the next step would be setting up the Oracle Projects for the conversion
purpose, which we will see in detail sooner. Once the System has been setup,
the technical elements (programs, concurrent processes etc) have to be created
in order to migrate the data from Legacy System to Oracle Projects.

Stages in Oracle Projects Conversion1. TheFirst Stageis
to obtain the data from the Legacy System which needs to be migrated to Oracle
Projects.2. TheSecond Stagewill
be most crucial step in the process which is to massage the data according to
the Oracle Projects Conversion Interface (Programs built using AMG APIs). This
Step is indeed time consuming, manual labor intensive to massage and rectify
the errors etc. But completing this step successfully pays dividends in the
consecutive processes / Stages.3. TheThird Stageis
uploading the data obtained from legacy systems into the Staging Area (Staging
Tables created to hold the data temporarily till it gets migrated into Oracle
Projects). Once the data is uploaded to the Staging tables, the programs built
for migration (We will see how to build these programs in detail) will validate
the Staging Table data to confirm that it is in compliance with the Projects
Conversion Program (The AMG APIs used in the programs indeed needs data in certain
format, also the data should be validated against the Oracle Projects Setup.
For instance, when migrating the cost or hours from legacy to Projects, we
might need to validate if the expenditure type is already setup in Oracle
Projects, if the expenditure type is not setup, the program/APIs will throw an
error. So it is always better to capture these kind of scenarios in the
Validation Step of the Migration.The Second Stage and Third Stages are repetitive
until you get the valid data from the legacy system which can be migrated into
Oracle Projects without any errors or issues.TheFourth Stageis the actual migration process which will migrate
the data from the Staging Tables to the Oracle Projects Base tables. Once this
step is done, the projects, tasks and other data are available in Oracle
Projects for use.Before going through the stages, we will look at
some of the basic setups that need to be done in Oracle Projects.

Oracle Projects Setup For Conversion

Product Code:The Product Code needs to be setup in Oracle
Projects in the AMG Gateway – Source Products Form in the Oracle Projects
Implementation Super User Responsibility. This setup is mandatory since this
product code needs to be passed when using the Oracle Projects AMG APIs

Project Types and Project Templates:The project types and project templates for
conversion projects need to be setup up. This is a mandatory setup since while
migrating projects we need to tell the APIs which project template/type the
projects use.For Contract Projects, setup the Contract Project
Type Template. For administrative or internal projects, setup the Indirect
Project Type templates.If you are migrating Cost and Revenue Budgets, then
the Plan Types need to be attached to the templates in order to create the budgets
for the migrated projects.

Implementation Option Setup:

Project Numbering: This implementation
option is by default set to ‘Automatic’ which means when creating projects in
Oracle Projects, the project number is automatically derived and users are not
required to provide any project numbers. This option is best suitable when
creating projects in Oracle Projects. But when migrating the projects from the
third party systems, there is an option to migrate the projects with the same
project number as in the legacy system. This is not mandatory but is
recommended since it will be easy to refer back the projects in the source
system using the project numbers.In order to pass the project number to the
Migration program, this implementation option needs to be setup to ‘Manual’.
Once the migration is done, this setup can be reverted back to ‘Automatic’.

Setup Transaction Source:The Transaction Source needs to be setup in Oracle
Projects in the Transaction Sources form in Oracle Projects Implementation
Super User Responsibility. This is a mandatory setup for the Costs/hours
migration from the legacy system to Oracle Projects. We need to tell the
migration API’s what the source system is and how the data is handled when it
is imported to Oracle Projects.

Setup Expenditure Types:Expenditure Types are needed to categorize the
cost/hours when it is imported to Oracle Projects. This is a mandatory setup
for Cost/hours migration. We need to tell the system which expenditure type the
cost/hour belongs to.

Setup Employee Cost Rates:Setting up cost rates for employees is not
mandatory. But if you need to cost the hours that are migrated in the system,
the labor cost distribution process in Oracle Projects do need the rates setup
in order to calculate the costs.But if you are migrating the costs directly from
the legacy instead of hours then this step is not needed. But ideally the cost
rates are required in a general production scenario wherein the
employees/contractors enter their timecards.You can setup job rate schedule, employee level
rate schedule or employee level overrides. Alternatively, the costing client
extension can be setup to calculate the cost according to the business
scenario.Refer to the Oracle Projects User Guide for how to
setup the employee cost rates.

First Stage: Obtain Data from Legacy SystemThe first stage deals with obtaining the data from
the legacy system in the desired format. The data can be obtained in the form
of flat text file or comma separated file csv, tab delimited file or file with any
delimiters. Generally tab delimited files are recommended since comma separated
files behave strange when there is a comma in the data itself.If there is a database link created between the
Source Legacy database and the Oracle Projects Database then the data can be
obtained directly using the select statements against the Source DB from within
the Oracle Projects DB. But this method is not preferred as it is more
performance intensive when it comes to selecting large data over the network.For Projects Migration, generally 2 files are
obtained. One file for Projects Data and the other file for Tasks Data.For Transaction Migration, single file is enough
with all the cost/hours data.For Cost/Revenue Budget migration, single file is
enough with all the Budgets Data.Create SQL Loader concurrent program which will
upload the obtained data into the Oracle Staging Tables.Also it is always the best practice to create a
control table in the Staging area, which will control the data migration. For
example your control table might look like the one below:

Parameter Type

Parameter

Parameter Value

Template

Contract

Contract_Template

Template

Indirect

Indirect_Template

Expenditure Type

Hours

Labor

Expenditure Type

Expenses

Employee_Expense

Transaction

Transaction Source

Legacy1

Product Code

Product code

LEGACY1

Project

Publish Workplan

Yes

Project

Baseline Workplan

Yes

Cost Budget

Baseline

Yes

Revenue Budget

Baseline

Yes

This control table is looked upon
by the migration program. So whenever there is a change in the templates,
expenditure types it is easy to change this control table instead of the code.
So the advise is never hard code any values in the code, always handle it using
the control table.Also it will be better to have a form based on this
table, so that this table data can be changed from the front end.

Second Stage & Third Stage: Validate and Format
the DataI am coupling the second and third stage because
both are interdependent. Validating data is very important and it prevents some
of the time consuming tasks in actual migration such as trouble shooting the
errors due to the invalid data.Below are some of the key validations that need to
be done before doing the actual migration.

Projects/Tasks Migration:Though the projects and tasks are in different
staging tables, the migration of projects/tasks is doing using a single
program. We can always migrate projects and tasks separately, but the issue is
with the performance when adding task by task to each project. So it always
better to create projects and tasks together because of the bulk loading of
tasks.

Project/Task – Setup Validations:

·Validate the Product code is setup.

·Validate if the required Project Templates are setup.

·Validate if the Project Numbering is set to ‘Manual’ for creating
projects with the predefined project numbers.

Project/Task Data Validations:

·Validate if the project name is unique. Project with the same name
should not exist in Oracle Projects.

·Validate if the project number is unique. Project with the same number
should not exist in Oracle Projects.

·Validate if the project long name is unique. Project with the same long
name should not exist in Oracle.

·Validate the project reference(this field is mandatory in the projects
file, it can be the projects identifier of the source project or project number
of the source project, but it has to be unique in the source system as well.
This field needs to be populated in all the converted projects in order to
track back and identify the project in the source system)

·Project name and project number should be 30 chars in length. Project
long name should be 240 chars in length. Project Description should be 250
chars in length. Project description is not a mandatory field when creating
project.

·Check if the project has a project manager and the project manager is
active in Oracle HR and has an assignment and a Job assigned. Also the project
manager has to be active from the project start date, else you cannot create a
project with that project manager.

·In case of contract projects, check if the customer of the project is a
valid customer defined and with a valid Bill To site assigned.

Apart from the above necessary validations, you may
have to validate the additional data such as Projects DFF Data you may want to
populate with your custom field values. For example you may want to populate
the Project cost center value in the Segment1 of the Project DFF. In such case
you have to validate if the cost center value is a valid value for that
Segment1 (sometimes you may have attached an LOV to that segment1, so in that
case, the cost center has to be validated against that LOV Values).For tasks, values for task types, work type, task
manager has to be validated. Task types and work types have to be defined in
Oracle Projects before the task with those values are migrated, else the task
will not be created.

Cost/hours validationSetup Validations:

·Validate if the Transaction source is setup.

·Validate if the Expenditure type is setup.

Data Validations:

·Check if the hours value is greater than zero.

·Check if the employee number is valid in HR and is active on the
timecard date.

·If the transaction source is setup as costed, then the cost has provided
while migrating the transactions. If the transaction source is setup as
accounted, then the code combination ids need to be provided when migrating
transactions.

Apart from the above validations, you may want to
validate the additional DFF segments that you are going to populate for that
expenditure item.

Budgets ValidationSetup Validations:

·Validate the project template has the required financial plan type
attached. Financial plans are the project management versions of the Budget
types in the Forms applications.

·Budget amount has to be greater than zero.

·There is no need to create revenue budgets if the ‘Baseline funding
without budget’ option is checked at the project or project type level.
Whenever the funding is created for the contract project and is baselined, the
revenue budget is automatically created and baselined. If that option is not
checked, it is necessary that a revenue budget with the same amount as the
funding amount needs to be created and baselined in order to baseline the
funding.

Data Validations:The cost budget for the project can be from the
source system’s budgeting system. If there is no budgeting in the source
system, a cost budget with the total cost of the project can be created in
Oracle Projects.For revenue budgets, it has to be equal to the
funding amount of the project. If there is no funding amount in the source
system, the sum of the revenue amount can be the funding amount and it is the
revenue budget amount as well.

Agreements and Funding ValidationData Validations:

·Agreement type should be valid.

·Agreement Amount should be greater than zero.

·Hard Limits can be setup according to business rules. If the hard limits
are setup for revenue and invoice then the revenue and invoice has to be within
the funding limits for that project.

·Funding amount has to be within the Agreement amount.

·If the funding at the top task level, then the ‘Customer at top task’
has to be enabled and the customer should have been assigned at the top task.

·Funding amount should be same as the Revenue budget amount which in
general will be same as the total revenue amount for that project. If there are
no hard limits then the revenue or invoice can exceed the funding amounts.

Records
which fail the above validations have to be rectified before doing the actual
migration.

Revenue
and Invoice Validations

Data Validations:

·Project / Task should already been converted to Oracle.

·Event amount should be non zero.

·For revenue event revenue amount should be populated.

·For invoice event invoice amount should be populated.

Generally for a project, the total revenue is
obtained from the source system and is created as a revenue event for that
project. The total invoiced amount is calculated per project and an invoice
event is created for each project.Once these events are created successfully in the
system, the Generate Draft Revenue process and Generate Draft Invoice process
needs to be run so that the desired revenue and invoices are generated.The revenue and invoice automatic approval and
release client extensions can be used to automatically release the revenue when
it is generated and approve/release invoices respectively.If the revenue amounts are already interfaced to
General Ledger (GL) through a different interface, then uncheck the ‘Interface
Revenue to GL’ option in the implementation options and run the ‘Interface
Revenue to GL’ process in Oracle projects. This will turn the flags in the
revenue records as accepted in GL, though it is not interfaced. Once this is
done, revert back the implementation option back to its original state.If the invoice amounts are already interfaced to
Accounts Receivables (AR) by different means, it is not desired to interface
the projects invoices to AR again since it will double the invoice amount in
AR. In this case, we do not have an implementation option like we had for
Revenue. So a script can be created to update the Invoice’s flag to Accepted
State. Alternatively the generated projects invoices can be interfaced to AR,
tied back to Oracle and then the invoices can be deleted in AR.

Stage 4: Actual MigrationOnce the data is validated, the program for
conversion is executed to migrate the data into oracle projects base tables.
There might be still errors due to AMG APIs which has to analyzed and resolved.
But the chances of such AMG API issues are just below 10% in any migration
(based on my experience in Oracle Projects Conversion).Below is a table with Conversion and which AMG APIs
are used for that conversion:

Conversion

AMG APIs

Projects/Tasks Conversion

PA_PROJECT_PUB.CREATE_PROJECT

Budgets Conversion

PA_BUDGET_PU B.CREATE_DRAFT_BUDGET, PA_BUDGET_PUB.BASELINE_BUDGET

Agreements

PA_AGREEMENT_PUB.CREATE_AGREEMENT

Funding

PA_AGREEMENT_PUB.ADD_FUNDING

Revenue/Invoice

PA_EVENT_PUB.CREATE_BILLING_EVENT

User Defined Attributes (UDA)

PA_PROJECT_PUB.LOAD_EXTENSIBLE_ATTRIBUTE

For Transactions (cost/hours) migration, there is no
APIs to create the expenditures in Oracle. The pa_transaction_interface_all
table needs to be populated with the migration data and once it is populated,
the PRC: Transaction Import process with the Transaction source as parameter
needs to be run in Oracle Projects. All invalid records need to be
rectified in order to migrate all the transactions.The
rejected records can be found in the same interface table with the
transfer_status_code as ‘R’.

Conversion
Tips:1.
Make sure the templates are defined properly and exactly the way it is needed.
Once the projects are created using the templates and the template was wrongly
defined, then it takes ages to rectify the converted projects.2.
Create the conversion program to operate in two modes: Validate, Run. A
concurrent process with a parameter called mode accepting Validate/Run can be
created. So the same concurrent program can be used to validate as well as run
the actual migration.3.
It is a good practice to have source Project id / Project Number as parameter
to the projects conversion program. This will allow us to test the
conversion for a single project and validate the data for that project.4.
The validation process can write the invalid records to the output file. So
once validation process completes, the output will have all the invalid records
which needs to be rectified.5.
Create a separate concurrent program to know the status of the already running
migration process. If you want to know where the migration process is in terms
of the number of records migrated, number of records rejected etc. If the
volume of the migration data is huge, then it is likely possible that the
conversion programs may run for hours. So in these scenarios this concurrent
program can be helpful in finding the status of that migration process.6.
For Transactions migration, the custom program written to populate the
interface table can kick off the PRC: Transaction Import process and wait for
its completion. Once the transaction import completes, the custom process can
print the invalid records from the interface table to the output file.7.
There are APIs to publish and baseline the workplans created as a part of
projects migration. But these APIs need to be used with care. There are lot of
performance issues and bugs when using these APIs.

AP_SUPPLIERS_INT:This is the open interface table for AP Suppliers.
It holds Supplier information which is loaded by the user for import. The
columns in the table map to corresponding columns in the PO_VENDORS table. The
Oracle Payables application uses this information to create a new Supplier
record when the Supplier Open Interface Import program is submitted. Each row
in the table will be identified by a unique identifier, the
VENDOR_INTERFACE_ID.Mandatory Columns:

·HOLD_FLAG – Indicates whether or not the supplier is on purchasing hold

·SUMMARY_FLAG – Key flexfield summary flag

·ENABLED_FLAG – Key flexfield enable flag

·EMPLOYEE_ID – Employee unique identifier if supplier is an employee

AP_SUPPLIER_SITES_INT:This is the open interface table for AP Supplier
Sites. It holds Supplier Site information which is loaded by the user for
import. The columns in the table map to corresponding columns in
PO_VENDOR_SITES_ALL table. The Oracle Payables application uses this
information to create a new Supplier Site record when the Supplier Sites Open
Interface Import program is submitted. Each row in the table will be joined to
the appropriate Supplier using the VENDOR_ID column.Mandatory Columns:

·PURCHASING_SITE_FLAG – Indicates whether purchasing is allowed from this
site

·AUTO_TAX_CALC_FLAG – Level of automatic tax calculation for supplier

·HOLD_ALL_PAYMENTS_FLAG – Indicates if Oracle Payables should place
payments for this supplier on hold

AP_SUP_SITE_CONTACT_INT:This is the open interface table for AP Supplier
Site Contacts. It holds Supplier contact data. The columns in the table map to
corresponding columns in PO_VENDOR_CONTACTS table. The Oracle Payables
application uses this information to create a new Supplier Contact record when
the Supplier Sites Open Interface Import program is submitted. Each row in the
table will be joined to the appropriate Supplier Site using the
VENDOR_SITE_CODE and ORG_ID.Mandatory Columns:

There
is one row for each invoice you import. Oracle Payables application uses this
information to create invoice header information when Payables Open Interface
program is submitted.Data
in the AP_INVOICES_INTERFACE table used in conjunction with
AP_INVOICE_LINES_INTERFACE table to create Payables Invoice, Invoice lines,
Distributions and Schedule payments. Data in this table can be viewed and
edited using ‘Open Interface Invoices’ window.

The Payables Open Interface
program validates each record in this interface table selected for import, and
if the record contains valid data then the program creates a Payables Invoice.

Important
columns:INVOICE_ID
(Required):Unique
identifier for this invoice within this batch. Same value should be populated
in invoice’s lines in the AP_INVOICE_LINES_INTERFACE table to identify the data
as belonging to the same invoice.INVOICE_NUM
(Required):
Enter the invoice number that needs to be assigned to the invoice created in
Payables from this record.INVOICE_TYPE_LOOKUP_CODE(Optional)
: Type of invoice: Credit or Standard.INVOICE
DATE(Optional) : Date of the invoice. If you do not enter
a value, the system uses the date you submit Payables Open Interface Import as
the invoice date.PO_NUMBER(Optional) :Purchase
order number from PO_HEADERS.SEGMENT1. This column needs to be populated if
invoice to be matched with an purchase order.VENDOR_ID
& VENDOR_SITE_ID (Required):VENDOR_ID
isunique identifier for a supplier and VENDOR_SITE_ID isInternal
supplier site identifier. Supplier of the invoice to be derived by value in one
of the following columns in this table: VENDOR_ID, VENDOR_NUM, VENDOR_NAME,
VENDOR_SITE_ID or PO_NUMBER.VENDOR_NUM
& VENDOR_NAME(Optional) : Supplier number and name. You must
identify the supplier by entering a value for one of the following columns in
this table: VENDOR_ID, VENDOR_NUM, VENDOR_SITE_ID, VENDOR_SITE CODE, or
PO_NUMBER.INVOICE_AMOUNT(Required):Amount
of the invoice.INVOICE_CURRENCY_CODE(Optional)
: Currency code for the invoice. If you want to create foreign currency
invoices, enter a currency code that is different from your functional
currency.EXCHANGE_RATE(Optional)
: This column is required if you enter a foreign currency code in the
INVOICE_CURRENCY_CODE column and you enter User as the EXCHANGE_RATE_TYPE.TERMS_ID(Optional)
: Internal identifier for the payment terms.DESCRIPTION(Optional)
: Enter the description that you want to assign to the invoice created from
this record.SOURCE(Required)
: Source of the invoice data. If you import EDI invoices from the Oracle EDI
Gateway, the source is EDI Gateway. For invoices you import using SQL*Loader,
use a QuickCode with the type Source that you have defined in the QuickCodes
window in Payables.

2]
AP_INVOICE_LINES_INTERFACEThis
is the lines interface table for the AP Invoice Open Interface and it is used
in conjunction with AP_INVOICE_INTERFACE table. AP_INVOICE_LINES_INTERFACE
stores information used to create one or more invoice distributions. Note that
one row in this table may create, during the import process, more than one
invoice distribution.

Important
columns:INVOICE_ID(Required)
:Enter the INVOICE_ID of the corresponding invoice in the AP_INVOICES_INTERFACE
table.INVOICE_LINE_ID
:This value is not required. You can enter a unique
number for each invoice line of an invoice.LINE_NUMBER(Optional)
:You can enter a unique number to identify the line.LINE_TYPE_LOOKUP_CODE(Required)
: Enter the lookup code for the type of invoice distribution that you want
Payables Open Interface Import to create from this record. The code you enter
must be ITEM, TAX, MISCELLANEOUS, or FREIGHT. These lookup codes are stored in the
AP_LOOKUP_CODES table.AMOUNT(Required)
: The invoice distribution amount. If you are matching to a purchase order, the
AMOUNT = QUANTITY_INVOICED x UNIT PRICE. If the total amount of all the invoice
distributions does not equal the amount of the invoice that has the same
INVOICE_ID, then Payables Open Interface Import will reject the invoice.

Concurrent
program:

Payables
Open Interface ImportParameters:

Source:Choose
the source of the invoices from the list of values. Use EDI Gateway, Credit
Card, or a Source type QuickCode you defined in the Payables QuickCodes window.Group:To
limit the import to invoices with a particular Group ID, enter the Group ID.
The Group must exactly match the GROUP_ID in the

Payables Open Interface
tables.

Batch
Name:Payables groups the invoices created from the invoices
you import and creates an invoice batch with the batch name you enter. You can
enter a batch name only if you have enabled the Use Batch Control Payables
option, and if you have enabled the Use Batch Control Payables option, you must
enter a batch name. If you use a batch name and some invoices are rejected
during the import process, you can import the corrected invoices into the same
batch if you enter the exact batch name during the subsequent import.

Hold
Name:If you want to place all invoices on hold at the time
of import, enter an Invoice Hold Reason. You can define your own hold reasons
in the Invoice Approvals window.

Hold
Reason:Payables displays the Invoice Hold Reason Description.

GL
Date:If you want to assign a specific GL Date to all
invoices, enter a GL Date. If you do not enter a value here, the system will
assign a GL Date based on the GL Date Payables option.

Purge:Enter
Yes if you want Payables to delete all successfully imported invoice records
that match the Source and Group ID of this import. Payables does not delete any
invoice data for which it has not yet created invoices. If you want to purge
later, you can use the Payables Open Interface Purge Program.

Steps:

1] Firstly, let’s get a unique number to be used as
INVOICE_ID to the invoice to be imported. This method ensures that each
invoice has a unique INVOICE_ID assignment.

selectap_invoices_interface_s.nextval fromdual;

Next Val

2] Then, create records in the Invoice Open Interface tables through SQL queries.

Insert into AP_INVOICES_INTERFACE for columns :

invoice_id,

invoice_num,

vendor_id,

vendor_site_id,

invoice_amount,

invoice_currency_code,

invoice_date,

description,

pay_group_lookup_code,

source,

org_id

3] You can go to Payables > Invoices > Entry > Open Interface
Invoices to check the details of Invoice and Invoice Lines from the front end.
If required you can do any modifications here. Alternatively you can use these
forms to put invoice data in AP_INVOICES_INTERFACE and
AP_INVOICE_LINES_INTERFACE tables.4]
Go to the front end and run the concurrent program “Payables Open Interface
Import” to submit a request for Invoice Import.

Output:

output of Payables Open Interface Import

5] The imported invoice becomes available for
review in Invoices Workbench.